Opening date for the community centre is looming

BUILDING work on Chobham community centre is set to finish a week tomorrow and it will be ready for use soon after. The centre in Windsor Road will provide a base for the youth club, indoor bowls and children’s playgroup Jackanory. It will have a computer suite with internet access for villagers of all ages. Chris Chaney, clerk of Chobham Parish Council, said the various groups would move in to the centre three to four weeks after building work had finished. He said: “It is a very busy period at the moment but everything is ready and set.” Surrey County Council will take over the community centre from builders Premier Properties. The parish council will be given ownership of the building once it has passed safety checks. The parish council has had a good response to its appeal for volunteers to become trustees of the centre and five will be appointed formally at next month’s parish council meeting. The centre is being built as a replacement for the former Chobham youth centre next door, which was sold to the county council and replaced by terraced houses. The county council carried out a review of community buildings in 1999 and decided to close many of them including the Chobham centre to save money. The cost of the community centre has amounted to £116,000 with the county council and borough council contributing £36,000 and the parish council making up the remaining £80,000 for the freehold. The parish and borough council hoped the centre would be built free of charge, since the youth centre had been taken over as a planning gain by the county council. One of the main groups that will use the centre is the Jackanory playgroup, which runs every morning of the week and has as many as 36 children attending each day. Joan Turner, playgroup supervisor, said she was looking forward to the move. “We are definitely happy to be moving across. It has taken years to get the new centre up and built and we are ready to move in and move on. “The decor in the youth centre has gone down hill and it has started to look a bit sad. “It will be nice to have a community centre in the village, which will hopefully be used a lot more.”